Denver’s Model Drug Court Virtually Eliminated

By |November 14, 2005

Denver’s drug court, once considered a national model, has been virtually eliminated, reports the Denver Post. That has caused inmates to stack up in city jails, delaying treatment for addicts and postponing resolution of cases, say critics. In 1994, Denver created one of the country’s first drug courts. The city has scaled back and scattered its program to the point that critics argue it no longer exists. They are pushing to reinstate a centralized system to help relieve jail crowding. “It is one of the heartbreak stories,” said Douglas Marlowe of the University of Pennsylvania, who studies drug courts.

Denver’s was the 12th drug court in the nation. There are now more than 1,400. Some say that drug offenders are more likely to get prison sentences now than under the old drug-court model, a fact supported for at least higher-level offenders, according to a review of data by the Post. This summer, the prosecutor’s office disbanded a nine-member drug prosecution unit, saying the scattered cases created a scheduling and workload nightmare. The demise of Denver drug court comes after the federal Government Accountability Office evaluated seven drug courts this year and found their defendants were less likely to reoffend.

The legislation marks a major change for Republicans, who long hve embraced a law-and-order rallying cry. Now many GOP senators argue for rehabilitating more offenders rather than long-time incarceration.

An Arizona doctor argues that the government should have learned from previous federal anti-drug strategies that blanket prohibition doesn’t work. He calls for scrapping attempts to curtail opioids and replacing it with “harm reduction” policies.

Expensive medications for inmates can lead to substandard care and delays in treatment, and that may have lasting—even deadly—consequences for incarcerated individuals, writes a prison health care advocate.

Murder rates in the nation’s 30 largest cities are projected to fall by nearly 6 percent this year according to the latest data, undercutting claims that the nation is experiencing a “crime wave,” says the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

School safety commission proposes ending a federal guideline telling schools not to punish minorities at higher rates. The panel largely sidestepped issues relating to guns, although it favors arming some school personnel.